Bill and holder for the same.



T. ODONNELL.

BLLL Aub HOLDER EoR THE SAME.v

APPLICATION FILED DEC29| 1v9l3.

METER BILL WITNESSES: NI/ENT? MVM y T, @Donnell A 7TOHll/EY COLUMBIAPLANOORMH Cc..wAsH|NGTDN, D. c.

Patented Aug. 10, 1915.

TEBENCE ODONNELL, OF KANSAS CITY, llISOURI.

BILL AND HOLDER FOR THE SAME.

Specification' of Letters Patent. v

Patented Aug. 10, 1915.

Application filed December 29, 1913. Serial No. 809,241..

T0 all 'whom t may concern:

Be it known that I, TERENGE ODONNELL, a citizen of the United States,residing at Kansas City, in the county of Jackson and State of Missouri,have invented certain new and useful Improvements in Bills and Holdersfor the same, of which the following is a specification. v y

This invention relates to a new form of bill with means for holding anumber of the same in a certain predetermined relation for use, and hasparticular reference to bills which are to be prepared from meterreadings taken periodically, where each bill contains data forming afactor in the computation of the neXt succeeding bill.

My object is to provide a bill adapted to be filled out by the inc terreader himself and delivered immediately to the owner of the premises,in doing which he simultaneously enters the necessary data in the nextsucceeding bill for the same premises, this succeeding bill to form atemporary record for the use of the oiiice.

To this end the invention comprises certain novel and peculiar featureshereinafter described and particularly pointed out in the appendedclaims, and for a full understanding thereof reference will be had tothe accompanying drawing, in which- Figure l is a plan view of a leembodying the features of the present invention;

Fig. 2 is a side view of the same; Fig. 3 is a plan view of a form ofmeter bill now in common use; Fig. A is a plan view of fragments of apair of bills with one shifted laterally on the other to show moreclearly the character of their longitudinally shifted relation when inuse.

As illustrated in the drawing, lmy new form of meter bill provides spacefor both the new and old meter readings and also has attached theretothe usual cashier and comptroller coupons. However, in the new form, thearrangement of the blank spaces on the bill differs in locating thereadings to one side, z'. e., to the left, and in providing anadditional space for the amount of the Previous bill, and also spaces atthe other side, z'. e., to the right, for the cash amounts representedby both the present bill and the last previous bill, as shown onthedrawing o posite the words Amount due and aid (compare Figs. 1 and 3).At some place upon each bill I place a mark whereby the, customer can beidentified. The marking may be by'y number, name or route but for`convenience I have shown the markg1g by number and name set forth asJohn The bills are to be arranged by routes with a bill A for eachmeterof the route, containing the date of the last meter reading and theamount thereof filled in, and a blank bill B underlying each of thebills A. The bills A and B7 are also arranged in longitudinally shiftedrelation so that the top blank space for the top reading to be enteredby the meter reader in bill A will overlie the second blank space inbill B (see Fig. 4:). 4From this arrangement it will be understood thatif a carbon duplicating means be provided between the bills, the entryof the present meter reading in the first blank space in bill A will beduplicated in the second blank space in bill B. The reader will then, atthe time of reading the meter, subtract the last previous meter reading,which occurs in the second space of bill A, from the new reading, andenter th-e difference in the third space of bill A, and also the amountdue for the same in the space provided at the right margin of the bill.These entries will also be duplicated in bill B in the spacescorresponding to Previous bill and Paid respectively. Bills A will bedelivered to the consumers at the date of reading the meters, and billsB returned to headquarters for the temporary use of the accountants.When the date arrives for the next reading of the meters, the bills Btake the place of the previous bills A, and fresh blank bills aresubstituted in the relation formerly occupied by said bills B, and thesame procedure gone vthrough with as above described. s

`While any appropriate means may be employed for holding the bills inthe desired staggered relation, I have found it convenient to provideeach bill with two sets of perforations 2, 2, and 4, 4l, spaced adistance apart equal to the width of the spaces provided for the meterreadings. The bills are then placed upon a file holder 6, with thefiling posts 8 passed through the perforations 2, 2, of bills A and theperforations 4, 4, of bills B, The holder and both sets of bills aretaken by the meter reader with him on his route, and as fast as thereadings are taken the bills A are removed and delivered to theconsumers to be presented by them at the office on making payment.

From the foregoing it will be apparent that I have devised a form ofbill the use of which minimizes the opportunities for error in itspreparation and expedites the delivery of the same to the consumer. Thereading of the meters has heretofore been a separate process, thereadings being taken by routes and later transferred to the books atheadquarters, and still 'later the bills are prepared from the recordsthus made and issued to the consumers. In this way error may creep in atany one of the several stages, and much needless loss of time isincurred, amounting usually to several weeks, in getting the billsinto'the hands of the consumers. In the use of bill forms as abovedescribed, there is no chance for error eX- cept by the meter readerhimself at the time of taking the reading and making the correspondingentries on the bill, and there is no delay whatever in rendering thebill, which may thus be made due and payable the same day the meter isread. Furthermore, the expense of mailing out the bills or of having amessenger making special trips for delivering the same is avoided.

Vhile the above represents what now appears to me to be the preferredmode of carrying out the object of my invention, I desire to beunderstood as reserving the right to such modifications and changes asmay fairly fall within the scope of the appended claims.

I claim:

l. In a combined meter bill lile and holder therefor a plurality ofpairs of like forms each having blank spaces indicated thereon for twosets of dates and meter readings one above the other, a blank spaceindicated below the lower of said spaces for the amount of thedifference between said meter readings, a blank space indicated oppositesaid last mentioned space for the price corresponding to saiddifference, and blank spaces respectively for accommodating the datacorresponding thereto on a previous bill, said forms being grouped inpairs, the upper one of each pair being shifted down by the distancebetween such spaces whereby the kupper blank spaces for the date andmeter reading will overlie the corresponding lower blank spaces of thenext adjacent forms, and means for holding said series of forms in saidshifted relation.

2. In a combined meter bill ile and holder therefor, ka plurality ofpairs of duplicate sheets each having blank spaces indicated thereon fortwo sets of dates and meter readings one above the other, a blank spaceindicated below the lower of said spaces for the amount of thedifference between said meter readings, a blank space indicated oppositesaid last mentioned space for the price corresponding to saiddifference, and blank spaces indicated below said two last mentionedspaces respectively for accommodating the data corresponding thereto ona previous bill, each of said sheets being provided with twov sets ofperforations spaced apart a distance equal to the width of one of saidblank spaces, and a lile holder having ile posts extending through oneof the sets of perforations of alternate sheets of each pair and throughthe other sets of perforations of the remaining bills to cause the lowerblank spaces 'for the date and meter readings of the latter bill formsto underlie the corresponding upper blank spaces of the other forms ofthe series.

3. In a combined meter bill file and holder therefor, a plurality ofpairs of duplicate sheets each having blank spaces indicated thereon fortwo sets of dates and meter readings one above the other, and a blankspace indicated below the lower of said spaces for the amount of thedifference between said meter readings, alternate sheets of each pairbeing shifted longitudinally relatively to the remaining sheets to causetheir upper blank spaces for the date and meter readings to overlie thelower of the corresponding blank spaces of the next adjacent sheet, andmeans for holding said sheets in said shifted relation.

f In testimony whereof, I aHiX my signature, in the presence of twowitnesses.

TERENCE ODONNELL.

IVitnesses:

l-I, C. Ronenns, G. Y. 'Ii-ronrn.

Copies of this patent may be obtained for ive cents each, by addressingthe Commissioner of Patents, Washington, D. C.

